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im shocked she needs to diet

my cavalier weighs 10kg which is about 22llbs
to my surprise she doesnt eat that much really so i suspect because she was free fed or fed too many biscuits ,donuts, maybe chips who knows
she wont get stuff like that with me and im making sure she gets plenty of exercise

Is she actually overweight though? The breed standard is a guide for what the breed should look like, but many dogs are larger than the breed standard, and a heavier weight is absolutely correct for those dogs given their frames. For many on this board, having their dog down to the top of the breed standard -- 18lbs -- would be an emaciated dog and very unhealthy!

That said, most of us have the reverse problem of too-heavy dogs and we tend to not see how heavy they have gotten. At a healthy weight you will be able to see a waist on the dog when viewed from above and easily feel the ribs (without having them sticking out). Some heavy coated dogs will look heavier than they are from above so the best time to check a dog's waist is when it is having a bath and is wet.

From that page, this is what a dog in GOOD weight should look like (I bet it is considerably slimmer than many of our dogs!):

As Laura stresses on that page, how much a dog needs depends entirely on metabolism, exercise etc and varies widely. I have two that eat only 1/3rd a cup of food daily and are quite active. I have another that easily eats 3/4th to a full cup daily and burns it off. That's why you cannot trust what it recommends on food bags. All foods have different calorie values too.

Good for you for planning on her health! I cannot stress enough how crucial it is to keep dogs in good slim weight. Recent studies show you cut up to a FOURTH -- many years! -- off the life of your dog by having it overweight, and that doesn't mean obese, it simply means *overweight*. In this breed it also puts serious extra stress on the heart to have to supply blood to more body weight and to have narrowed blood vessels due to fat -- and that definitely shortens the dog's life and hastens death from MVD.

So on every single count -- all of us need to keep our dogs slim, we need to have a very light hand with treats and meals, we need to get them the exercise they need. It is just so important -- who wants to lose their dog years before their possible lifespan?

In the library section there's info on pudgy pets, healthy treats, etc but the link above has much of the same info.

Last time Lucie was at vet she was 9.1 kilos and I was told she was fine for her height and build.
She is by no means fat....although i became obsessed and thought she should be on a diet to reach 7-8kilos as breed standard states.Although her height is 13 and 3/4 inches tall.....which is tall for a cavalier.

Has your dog been to a vet to confirm she is overweight?
I was told as long as lucie has a nipped in waist then she is fine.Because she has loads of hair and is fluffy I check her waist hasnt expanded too much when she is wet as u get a better view! People are amazed how much skinnier she looks when wet....LOL!

If Lucie gets some extra treats for training I slighty amend her food for that meal.

i think her weight is proberley down to her being in the house on her own all day i was told they gave her a tin with biscuits and left to it allday thats the reason they gave her up cause they were working all day so she needed to be rehomed to someone who could take care of her during the day
shes a lovely dog and needs some tlc im taking her to the vets next week to start her vacs all over again as shes way overdue them, a dog like her needs looking after properley i can then get advice from the vet on what food to put her on
she also snores very loadly ive never heard a dog snore like that before
its not there fault i quess its easy to spoil such a cutey

Last edited by cmd123; 1st July 2008 at 03:16 PM.
Reason: forgot a bit

She sounds a sweetheart! It will be nice for her to have someone around too. If she had her puppy vaccination series she probably just needs a booster. The major vet schools recommend only vaccinating with a booster every three years now anyway so she is probably fine even if it has been a few years since her last vax.